We recently went to River Night in town! Our town has a rib festival every July, and the Friday night before is just a big party by the river. It was a little rainy this year, but it looked like the major rain wasn't going to hit, and we decided to go.
The evening started off well. We walked along the river. Ben got to throw rocks into the river, his favorite thing to do. The girls were reasonably happy, and I was enjoying watching Pat and Ben play. A bit of rain rolled through, but really just a misting. Ben actually wanted to participate in some of the activities this year, which was so fun! He bounced in the bounce house and got a balloon. You know those are major things when you are two years old. So far, so good. Little did I know some major mom fails were coming.
Then we decided it was time to get some ribs. I mean, it was supposed to be a rib event, it's what you do. Pat went to go stand in line for the family. As I was trying to get the kids to an open place to wait, Ben managed to walk into a table and hit his head. Poor kid. I comforted him, and he got a toothbrush from the man running the table he whacked his head into. Thanks local dentist! The gentleman was very nice about it. Oh, that does mean that I let me kid walk head first into a table in front of a bunch of witnesses, so yay for that mom moment.
I wrangled the kids over to watch a tae kwon do demonstration. Ben was really into it! He yelled out, "Pup Fu!" Now, if you have a young child you might recognize that as an episode from Paw Patrol. It was cute that he made the connection. We were enjoying it, but then the mist started again. The girls were not happy about it and started fussing pretty loudly. I managed to get us to a more covered area, but by then the girls were, well, loud. Awesome mom moment again.
The motion of the stroller calmed the girls, but once we stopped Ali was just not having it. She started full on crying, so I pulled her out of the stroller. That helped a bit, but then Sammy started getting louder. Twin problems here- it is hard to hold both babies at once, and, for me at least, almost impossible to pick them both up out of their seats at once. I switched off holding the girls, trying to soothe them. Ben was being a trooper through all of this. I know it was hard for him to be dragged from spot to spot, and to have to wait for Pat to get back with the food. But he was being awesome. Of course he is still a toddler, so he thought spinning in a circle was a fun way to pass the time. We were on a giant slab of concrete. Ben's balance isn't always the best. I mean, he's two, he falls a lot. I reached out to try to stop him from spinning so he wouldn't fall. Yep, you guessed it, I accidentally knocked him right over. Awesome mom moment number three. I was on fire this night. ;)
Fortunately Pat made it back to us then and was able to help with the girls while I made Ben feel better. Despite all that, the rib stand was backed up on ribs, so we ended up with tacos. Not our finest outing. We left shortly after we ate, as the girls were just done with everything. I have to laugh at the whole thing though. So many parts of the evening were so fun. And Ben did so well! Then there were my great times of letting my kid walk into a table, all my kids crying, and knocking my own son ever. Hmmm... maybe the rain wasn't the issue, I was... No, that can't be right. :P
At least we got a couple great pictures!
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| Ali- before the rain |
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| Throwing rocks! |
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| My wonderful family! |
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| Happy Sammy! (Also pre-rain) |
Thinking back on the night, it wasn't so bad. Not quite the fun filled evening we had in mind. Also not as terrible when you look at the whole evening, not just the few minutes when everyone was crying. Just like most of parenting, right?
-Kim
I totally picked this one up based on the cover (I know, the expression says not to. But when you are at the library with a two year old you kind of just grab books quick and get to the play time!) and the fact that I liked Bergdorf Blondes by Plum Sykes, and I was hoping this author was related. It turns out they are twin sisters! Oh yes, you can bet I love all things twins now, so yay! It was really good! A magazine editor in chief took six months off to have treatment for breast cancer, and when she gets back to work suddenly everything is very different. A younger woman, who used to be the assistant, is now a big deal. This former assistant is all about tech and, well, not the nicest person. I really enjoyed reading the different perspective of the 'older' editor. She is 42, and the antagonist is only 26. I fall just about halfway between these two ages, and I found it really interesting to consider both their points of views. On the one hand, the protagonist does need to 'catch up' a bit. You have to keep up with technology and can't just do things the same way because 'that's how it is done.' But the antagonist has to respect what has been done before, and should discount someone else's experience just because they aren't super tech savvy. I thought it was really fun to think about, especially with the millennial vs baby boomer type articles that are always going around. This was a good one about work place relationships and knowing the difference between colleague and friend. It also points out that the mean girl phenomena isn't limited to the junior high set. This book made me reflect a bit on what sort of example I want to set for my daughters, and how I hope they treat others.
This was a fun book about, well, the extremely rich of Singapore. I don't know much about the rich of Asia, so I'm not entirely sure how much of this was based on truth. But I still enjoyed it. It is told from the point of view of multiple characters. There are some of the older members of the rich clan who don't really want to see 'outsiders' get in and take their money. There are younger members trying to find their way in the world. And of course there are some who are just all about the money. We get an outsider's perspective from a woman dating one of the richest members of the families, which I felt kind of grounded the book a bit. Overall it is a story of families and how they interact. This story is just more fun because you get to read about the lavish lifestyle.
I think I liked this book more now that I have daughters. More specifically, I have daughters who are sisters. I only have a brother, so sister relationships haven't always held that much of an interest for me. Sure, I have wondered what it would be like to have a sister. I have female cousins that I am close to, and a wonderful sister in law. But I didn't grow up in the same house as those women. As a result I am newly interested in how sisters interact, and how their parents help shape the relationships between them all. The sisters in this book all end up back at home for different reasons, but the reason they cite is that the mother is sick. They have to figure out where their lives are going, and how their roles within their family are going to change or stay the same. The father in the story is a professor of Shakespeare, so there are a lot of fun quotes and allusions to Shakespearean characters.
This is one of my young adult choices from this month. Basically it is a world is ending novel. Before the book begins there is an asteroid that is heading towards earth. Fortunately they were able to break it apart before it got too close to Earth, so crisis averted there. What they didn't know is that some bacteria still made it to Earth and pretty much kills everyone. The kicker is that it is in water. So basically the rain kills everyone. The book takes place in England. Lots of rain there. It was an exciting, fast read. And yes, it did make me a little paranoid when it rained for about a week after I read it. I didn't know when I picked this book up that it is the start of a series. I do plan to follow up and read the rest!
